About Us
WHO ARE WE?
Wheelbuilding in the family began in Grangemouth, Central Scotland. Derek's Great Grandfather started building frames between the wars, while his grandmother built the wheels and bikes up until the 60s. It's in the blood.
The passion for engineering and cycling continued in the family, brought up on proper racing wheels and repairable components. Derek started the Wheelsmith brand in 1986 whilst studying. He has been building and rebuilding wheels since the early 80s BMX days.
A lot has happened in cycling technology over 80yrs but the philosophy still remains - If you can't repair it, don't build it.
In the past 25yrs, technology has taken off and we have kept ahead of this with historic close relations with the trade and emerging markets in the far east. We moved to Larbert, near Stirling in 2006, became a limited company with a custom-built low-emission premises and set out to make handbuilt wheels for a burgeoning racing scene in the UK and Europe.
We were the first UK builder to use EDGE Composites rims from the USA. Impressed by their unique construction and performance, they proved popular straight from the off.
Edge Composites rebranded to ENVE Composites in August/September 2010 due to international trademark issues with the name "Edge" outside the U.S.. The rebrand, which took effect at Eurobike, maintained the same management, and staff at Ogden, Utah-based manufacturing, simply shifting to a more distinctive, globally viable brand name while continuing to focus on high-end carbon fibre components. With collaboration from aerodynamicist Simon Smart soon after, production of the asymmetric front/rear depth/width design that we still see today in the SES line.
Over the years we have always tried to keep a small number of dedicated wheel assembly staff who have the skills and patience required to stay focussed to keep it all together. Working out spoke lengths for new rims, prototyping and testing new designs and taking quality control samples from the microbrewery.
It is Derek's shoulders upon which the integrity of every pair of wheels here lies - and that is now tens of thousands of pairs. Every pair of wheels here has either been fully built or finalised by him. This limits output but ultimately, it ensures that there is no bias or loss of quality.
There are no wacky designs or spoke patterns or unobtainable components in our line-up, just dependable wheels that are proven race winners year after year. Colour combinations are a matter of personal taste however!
Through skill and determination we have weathered the brunt of mass-market wheels flooding the UK shores - aggressively marketed flamboyant designs with little or no expertise or backup behind them. It still amazes us that some of the huge brands still offer wheel designs that are little more than "disposable" when something goes badly wrong. There is undoubtedly some marketing strategy behind this. However their warranty teams seem to be as busy as their sales staff!
We have now supplied wheels to World Champions, European Champions, British Champions, World Record Breakers, local heroes - recently Jenny Graham, who claimed the unassisted circumnavigation record on a pair of 45mm deep carbon wheels built by Derek.
We have now moved to Glenlivet in the Cairngorms. Beautiful cycling countryside. We have daily deliveries and collections and everything runs exactly the same, we just have a more tranquil environment in which to work. We now predominantly supply, build and service ENVE wheelsets but still have alternatives available for special builds.
Forget the trends of "disposable" wheels - we build wheels that last and won't let you down and go more lightly on the planet!
